By Your Side
by xoxIcing
Summary: The whole guild is finally lvl90 and Shiroe came up with the best idea to celebrate their achievement - A raid for the members to try out their new abilities. However, he learned something new during their adventure that he was not expecting at all. UPDATED CHAPTER TWO - 2/21/2015
1. Chapter 1

Thank you all for taking the time to read this - I don't intend on making this a long story but we will see what happens. I do play World of Warcraft so some of that information might bleed here. Any reviews or constructive criticism is always welcome.

Thank you again~

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Shiroe took a deep breath and placed his quill down on his desk. He closed his eyes and stretched his arms over his head. He had been busy devising a new plan for Akiba's economic state. The members of the round table wanted to redistribute the wealth to ensure that all the habitants had a fair chance but Shiroe didn't agree with this wholeheartedly.

After his tiny stretch, he went back to writing on his parchment. He felt like he was finally hitting his stride.

"My lord," said a tiny purple-haired girl from under his desk.

"Akatsuki," he said, startled. "How many times did I tell you to not sneak up on me like that?"

Akatsuki ignored his question and stared at him, making him a little uncomfortable.

It was just like her to know exactly what to do to get his full attention. He put the quill down again and looked right at her.

"Yes?"

"I want to do a raid, my lord," she said.

This piqued his interest. He thought that it was an odd statement from her, especially since she never showed she had interest in raiding, even from when he knew her back this apocalypse started.

"What are you hoping to get?"

Akatsuki crawled out from under the desk and sat on top of it. She stared at him again, unblinking.

"There is armor that I want," she said. "The armor that I have right now is fine but –"

"I get it," Shiroe smiled, cutting her off. "Are you hoping that it would help you attack faster or hit harder?"

Akatsuki nodded. "There is one that I can solo, my lord. I am just asking if I could have some time off to be able to do the run."

For some reason, this didn't bode well with Shiroe. He knew the raid – Waterfall Castle – that she wanted to do since it was only place that dropped a chest piece she wanted. There was something else that was bothering him from her wanting to leave for a little bit. He couldn't place it but ignored that tiny feeling.

"That place can't be solo'd very easily," he said. "There is a boss that splits to two and the final boss has a really bad enrage."

Akatsuki looked a little disappointed when he said that. He immediately felt bad that he had put her down like that, even though he knew that she was a very capable player. He was more worried that this raid was going to be a little more than she could chew, especially since the raid she wanted to do was a little trickier.

Suddenly, a really easy solution popped to his head. It was something that he was surprised he didn't come up sooner when she had asked him the first time.

"How about you wait a little bit and the whole guild goes?" He said.

"My lord?"

"You heard me," he said, suddenly getting excited at the idea. "Just wait until they are all level 90 and we all go to Waterfall Castle. It will be a nice break from all of this and it's something that as a guild we can do."

Shiroe immediately read her expression that she wasn't exactly please with the solution he came up with. He thought that because Akatsuki was used to doing things by herself was the reason why didn't seemed so please.

"They are all just 88 so it wouldn't be long before they can go," he reasoned. "It will be more fun."

"My lord," she said. "I don't want to be a burden because of one thing I want."

"Other stuff drops there too," he said. "Sure, Nyanta, Naogutsu, Tet and I don't need anything from there but we can get a nice robe for Rudy and a weapon for Minori."

If Akatsuki was upset, she did her best to try to hide it.

"Trust me," Shiroe smiled again. "It will be fun. I need a break too and I think that it would help me get my focus back. I will also make sure that we will get that chest piece for you."

Upon hearing that, Shiroe was relieved when Akatsuki smiled. He noticed a small blush that crept to her cheeks.

There again was that feeling he get whenever he would make Akatsuki smile. He couldn't help but feel happy whenever he managed to do that.

"Thank you, my lord," she said before she vanished from his view.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you all for the interest, reviews and follows. I will try my best to make the story interesting for you all :D

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**CHAPTER TWO**

It had been a few weeks since Akatsuki's conversation with Shiroe. She patiently waited for the rest of her guildmates to reach lvl90. Shiroe had been sending them off to quests to level faster but she was annoyed by his principle that they had to learn their respective class before anything else.

They all could easily go to some dungeon, let them stand in a corner away from the mobs and just rack up their experience. The EXP potions they still received could have easily let them raid within the few days since she brought up the idea.

She could have ran and done the raid by herself and received the Chest piece really easily but, she had to trust her lord and his promise.

Also, she thought, it would be fun to show off to Shiroe her Overskill and her improvements to her damage.

Earlier this day, Shiroe announced that there would a guild meeting. Her guildmates had reached level 90 a couple of days ago but Shiroe wanted to make sure that they are all geared up to tackle the raid.

She hoped that since they would be having a meeting, he would finally talk more about the raid.

She walked in to the living room and laid down on the couch, remembering how far they had gone. As a solo player, she never thought of Elder Tales being a social game but an outlet of her frustrations in the other world.

She loved that she was a tall male assassin who couldn't be taken advantage of. Whenever she had a bad day, she could just log in and zone out with whatever event she could find. She wasn't so much into PKing but she loved joining other parties and being taken seriously because of her avatar's appearance.

She remembered that Shiroe was brought in by one of the members' events due to his knowledge. He was a well-known player, of course, but she didn't pay much attention to him. Soon, they found themselves in the same groups more often that they did end up form an internet friendship.

He respected that she refused to speak online and preferred to use the chat system. It was quite rare since a lot of groups would rather use vocal communications but he did accommodate her as best as he could.

She was really happy when he had the appearance potion and handed it to her without any question. Even if it cost her to reveal her true gender, she felt indebted to him. She also felt like she had misled him – one of her reasons for wanting to serve him as her lord.

However, the more time she spent with him, the more she grew to respect him. It then just snowballed from there. She finally realized her feelings for him when she saw Minori and Shiroe together. She hated being jealous when she knew she had no right to be. So, she poured those emotions to becoming a better asset to Shiroe.

Even with Minori out, running dungeons and questing, she barely saw Shiroe. She loved sneaking up to his office, just to see his face and chat a little before running off on whatever errand he would give her.

She heard the door open and saw the rest of her guild pouring to the living room.

"That was so amazing," Tohya said. "Your clutch heal really save me, Minori."

"Thank you," Minori said. "Shiroe told me that the boss would cast a big debuff on that phase and to watch out."

Akatsuki tried not to make a face as she saw Isuzu and Serara exchanged glances. While Akatsuki could play off that she was RPing with Shiroe, Minori was obvious with her crush. Her switching to the Apprentice subclass gave her time with Shiroe that Akatsuki wished she had.

"I wonder what is the announcement," said Isuzu, taking a seat next to Akatsuki.

"Maybe it's another dungeon where I can show off how much damage I can do," said Rudy. "It is so hard to be one of the few damage dealers, after all."

"Of course, it is," Isuzu laughed.

Serara looked to the kitchen, smelling dinner being made, "I wonder if Nyanta needs me to help with dinner."

"No need for that-nya," Nyanta said as he walked in from the kitchen. "It is simmering and hopefully be done in time for dinner-nya."

He took a seat next to Serara, who looked like she was trying to not jump him. Her struggle was hard that Akatsuki was impressed she resisted.

Akatsuki heard Tetra and Naotsugu arguing upstairs. She tried to ignore whatever he was saying but she felt her legs twitching to kick his head for whatever dumb thing he was about to say.

"I like panties," he said. "However, there is a difference between seeing them and –"

He was on the ground with a huge bump on his head before he could finish his sentence. Akatsuki smirked by how quick she was getting. Tetra snickered as Naotsugu got up from the floor and picked a seat as far from Akatsuki as he could. Tetra climbed to his shoulder and they went back to their argument.

"Okay," Shiroe said as he came down the stairs.

Her heart skipped a beat as soon as she saw Shiroe. He looked a little tired, as usual, but surprisingly calm. She could tell that he was excited for this as much as she was.

"First of all," he said. "I would like to officially congratulate Tohya, Minori, Serara, Rudy and Isuzu for making level 90.

"I know that you all reached level 90 a few days ago but this time you are all wearing level 90 gear. I know that the dungeons have been tricky but I would hope that you learned a lot about strategy and team work."

The guild clapped for each other and Rudy stood up and took a bow. Isuzu pulled him down so that Shiroe can finally make his big announcement.

"I am sure that you all know that we will be celebrating a festival for the anniversary of the Apocalypse," Shiroe continued. "Even though we have these unfortunate circumstances, I am really happy that I could be here for all of you and the Round Table wants to make sure that we all celebrate the good that happened rather than focusing on the bad."

Akatsuki smiled when he said that. The best thing that could happen was that she was able to spend more time with him like this rather than waiting until he popped online.

"However, we won't be participating with the planning of the festival. We might attend, if the time would allow us."

Almost immediately he was met with calls of concern. The guildmates started protesting and talking amongst themselves. Shiroe motioned for them to settle down and they quieted down.

"That is because we will be doing a raid," he finally said.

Right then, the guild started to get excited. Akatsuki caught Shiroe's eyes and smiled at him. She was right to trust in her lord and felt more excited that he finally pulled through with his promise.

"We will be doing Waterfall Castle," he continued. "It is one of the first raids for level 90s and honestly, it feels like a rite of passage."

"That's right," Naotsugu piped in. "I remember all the wipes that happened."

"Hopefully there won't be any," Shiroe said. "There is a lot of useful gear for everyone but Nyanta, Naotsugu, Tetra and myself. I will be going over the strategies in the next few days and I will be splitting you guys up right now to talk about the raid in general.

"Tetra, you take Minori and Serara to one corner to talk about the healing," he instructed.

"C'mon, my little sweeties," Tetra smiled as she got up from Naotsugu's shoulder.

Shiroe said, "Naotsugu, take Tohya to talk about the tanking strategies. Nyanta will be talking to Rudy and Akatsuki about the damage and Isuzu, you come with me to plan out when to do buffs and debuffs."

The guild dispersed to their respective groups.

As Akatsuki walked over to where Nyanta was sitting, she passed Shiroe.

"Thank you, my lord," she said, bowing to him.

Shiroe smiled back and placed his hand on her shoulder, "Of course. I should be thanking you too. You seem to know just what I want."

Akatsuki spend the rest of the evening trying to hide her giddiness. Whatever time she could steal from her lord from his duties, she was pleased.


End file.
